Please VOTE YES on HB-112 “Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes.” I am a pediatrician and HB-112 is about preventing youth access to an addictive tobacco product.

Based on UDOH and CDC data:

1. Kids’s use of e-cigarettes in Utah has tripled from 2011 to 2013 (while rest of the country has seen lower rates of increase)

2. Despite having no legal access to e-cigarettes, Utah youth are three times more likely to report current use than adults.

3. Nearly one-third of Utah youth who use e-cigarettes report that they never tried conventional cigarettes. This is also higher than elsewhere in the nation.

4. E-cigarettes are the preferred tobacco products for Utah kids. In some areas, as many as 20% of children use e-cigarettes regularly.

5. All the major cigarette companies are now in the e-cigarette business.

Requiring a retail license will help decrease underage sales of e-cigarettes. We saw a decrease of underage tobacco sales from 62% to 6% from 2001 to 2011. Without a retail license for e-cigarettes, there is no way to identify and prevent underage sales from e-cigarette retailers.

Our kids deserve to not be targeted by the tobacco industry with products that are designed to addict children.

Please help protect Utah kids by voting YES on HB-112 to require a retail license for e-cigarettes sales and product standards for these currently unregulated, addictive products.